Give and Take
by FlightlessBird1122
Summary: Sometimes, the climax doesn't live up to our expectations and more often than not, nothing just isn't enough anymore.


**A/N-** My friend's been bugging me for some So/Ma romance so here it is! I finally typed it up after like, months! Anyway, this song is **Misguided Ghosts by Paramore**. It's an awesome song so you can listen to it on YouTube while you read if you want. I didn't use all the lyrics though…

**[**_I am going away for a while, but __**I'll be back**__ don't try and follow me…cause I'll return as soon as possible_**]**

Maka lied in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Even though it was way past any hour normal people would be up at she just couldn't get to sleep. In situations like this Soul would usually come into her room, how he knew she was up remained a mystery to her, and they'd sit and talk for hours. Eventually she would fall asleep without even realizing it, and in the morning he would be gone, making it all seem like a hazy dream.

She wished he were here right now, but he wasn't so she settled on staring up at the ceiling of her room, seeing and not seeing at the same time. He was somewhere in Europe with some other technician on a mission. After turning him into a Death Scythe he got all of the glory while she was left here, alone. Now he got to travel the world on exciting missions and work for Shinigami-sama himself and what was she left with…? Nothing.

He was hardly ever home too. At least once a week he'd be called on missions and then she'd have to stay back in Death City weaponless, meaning she couldn't do anything while he was gone.

Since she was little she'd always wanted to be like her mom. Having a scythe weapon and making them into a Death Scythe being her top priorities. She thought that if she could be like her momma or even be better than her mom then all would be great. The only issue was that Maka never stopped to think about what came after all that. What would she do after Soul became a Death Scythe? Naturally everyone thought she would just switch partners and get on with her life, but Maka wasn't so sure. She had been through so much with him. The past couple years of struggling to be the best had all been done by his side. She realized though that her will to be like her mother was so strong that even her personal life was beginning to resemble it.

Maka was alone more and more often and she knew that she was better than that. To be wasting away alone in an apartment for a…a…partner that she never even saw anymore…was beneath her. She didn't know if it was the right decision but she knew one thing.

She was tired. Tired of being alone. Tired of being left behind. Ever since she was little. Even the mother that she idolized so much had left her behind, no matter how much she'd like to deny it. Her Papa left her the day he decided to cheat on her mom, and now, the one person she'd finally grown close to, after so many years, was leaving her too. It may be cowardly, but she figured, if they can do it why not her? And besides, she didn't want to stick around when she knew it would just end in pain. She'd been down that road before._  
__  
_

_**[**__We all learn to make __**mistakes**_**]**

"I'm done." Maka whispered abruptly.

Soul looked away from the T.V and turned toward her."What do you mean, done? Done with what?" She was staring at the tiled floor of their kitchen. Sullenly, as if she wished she didn't have to say her next words. But no matter how much she wished it weren't so, something had to change.

"Us." Maka stepped down from her tall swivel chair and turned toward her room. Soul couldn't see her face and to him that one action was symbolic; she had turned her back on him.

"You've been doing so well on your own lately, mission after mission. Heck! You're hardly ever home and when's the last time we actually partnered up? I'm obviously not needed here. Plus a great Death Weapon such as yourself deserves a technician of equal caliber."Maka stopped talking; waiting for Soul to deny her, for him to tell her that everything she had said was wrong. But as the moments ticked by only silence greeted her. Truthfully, she was sad, it was really the end. He didn't even care enough to try to stop her from leaving.

Maka could feel the tears stinging her eyes and her vision getting blurry. After all that she'd said she really didn't want to cry in front of him so she turned back toward her room and all but ran there, not even bothering to shut the door. All the while Soul's shocked form watched her from his place on the couch, disbelieving.

**[**_And __**run**__. from them. From them. __**With no direction**_**]**

Maka pulled out her large red and black striped suitcase from under her bed and unzipped it. She then went through her drawers and began to haphazardly throw clothes into it. Maka couldn't really see what she threw in but when she was sure that she had all of the necessities she pulled down the lid and secured it. Then she glanced around the room just in case she'd forgotten something. She saw the photo album on her desk and flipped through a few of the pictures. They were all taken at a better time in her life. When things were still happy.

She continued turning the pages, a few tears sprinkled here and there, until she came upon one that struck a chord. It was dissonant and made her heart hurt just to look at it.

The picture was one that was taken about a year ago. They had gone to the beach and Tsubaki had insisted on having the two of them take a picture together. Eventually they obliged and Soul lazily put his arm around Maka's shoulder. When the camera flashed Maka was looking up at him shyly, a rosy hue tinting her cheeks. The picture had been so cute that Tsubaki had (once again) insisted they keep it.

Where had those days gone? Maka thought, pocketing the photo. She wiped her eyes before grabbing her suitcase and leaving the now nearly empty room. As she entered the front room she spotted Soul, who was now standing near the end of the couch, shock and panic written all over his face. When he spotted the suitcase it only amplified his fright causing him to take an unsteady step forward, towards her, stuttering out a low, "No...Maka p…please. Don't leave me."She looked at him steadily, examining him. At last she decided that it wasn't worth it, **_he _**wasn't worth it, and she walked past him and opened the door.  
"Goodbye...Soul"  
She walked out the door and shut it silently behind her. No longer would she stay there waiting for **_him_**. She was done with waiting.

[We'll run. from them. From them. With **no conviction**]

Soul stared at the door for who knows how long. Minutes, seconds, weeks. Time didn't matter anyway. He had nothing better to do with it. The center of life itself for him had just walked out the door. When Soul had gathered himself enough, he walked over to Maka's room and lightly pushed the door, allowing him entrance. It was the emptiest he'd ever seen it. The closet was practically empty and everything down to her favorite pencil had gone with her.

Soul hoped (oh so much) that this was just a temporary thing and when she simmered down a bit she'd move back in and things would go back to normal, but after a week or so of her avoiding him he realized that this was more serious than not getting her a present for their anniversary or anything for that matter. Maka had moved out. G.O.N.E. Gone… and he had done absolutely nothing to stop it.

After that sank in panic was the dominant emotion for the ivory haired teen. What had happened? It seemed like they were getting along okay. She had just brought up how he was always gone and, before he knew it, she was spouting nonsense about how he'd be better off with someone else. Who in the world could replace her? Absolutely nobody. And now, because of him, she was gone.

For the next couple weeks he tried time and time again to get Maka  
alone with him so they could talk it out, but she was extremely evasive. The fact that meisters and weapons took different classes didn't help much either.  
•••TIME SKIP•••  
Whenever Soul set foot in their (he still considered it both of theirs) apartment he felt languid, lonely. Everything reminded him of her. Without Maka, Soul was, admittedly, pretty helpless. During the moments when he wasn't working or in class he was moping on the couch. His friends tried to cheer him up but in the end they knew that the only one capable of helping him was Maka.

Soul just didn't feel like doing anything. Even after a year he was anything but over her. If it was possible he missed her now more than ever.

**[**_Traveling __**endlessly**__. and we just go in circles_**]**

After Maka moved out she was just as miserable as Soul. But even after twelve miserable months she still refused to go back to him. She reasoned that it was better this way; Soul would get over her and she...she'd... What would she do? Maka never did get a new weapon. It didn't seem right and, truthfully, to her it was never even an option. Instead she trained by herself and learned to use her weapon powers, mastering them in record time.

After a few more months she reached Death Weapon status and entered the "Hall of Fame" if you will, for Death Weapons. After that she and Soul saw a lot more of each other and (though they had never did go on a mission together) even came close to talking a few times. So, so close but, like the coward she was, Maka always ran off with some kind of excuse. He looked fine anyway and conversation would most definitely weaken her resolve to stay away from him. She didn't want to risk letting him back in because that would mean landing herself in the same position as before, which was something she wasn't willing to do. At this point fear was her greatest ally, but could it match up against love?  
_  
_

_**[**__Would someone care to classify our broken hearts and twisted minds. So I. can find, __**someone to rely on**_**]**

Soul was tired (so tired) of putting up the front that said "I'm okay. I don't need her." Since day one all he'd wanted to do was scream "I love you! Please come back!" to her, to the world if it would help. He'd grovel from his knees if he had to, but he knew Maka and he knew it wasn't that easy, that simple. Besides, cool guys didn't do stuff like that now did they?

**[**_And run. to them. to them. __**Full speed ahead**_**]**

Maka sat up and looked around, only to plop back down seconds later from annoyance. The bright lights and stark white walls of the room bugged her eyes. Not to mention all of the wires and cords they had hooked up to her. How many times was she going to end up in a hospital before they pronounced her dead?  
**SLAM!  
**Maka heard panting and after a few seconds, belatedly turned toward the sound.

There stood someone all too familiar. He was taking deep breaths, as if he'd just run a marathon and his stark white hair looked wind blown and tousled. His face, same as ever, seemed panicked, as if he were looking for something he'd lost...or someone.

"Maka!" The alabaster haired teen said breathlessly when he spotted her. He ran over to her and carefully pulled her into a hug. This close there was no denying who this was. He had hardly changed. The same shock white hair (give or take a few inches) and piercing crimson eyes. He might've grown an inch or two, but you'd expect that after a year. She had been gone a whole year, but it had felt like so much longer. She let out the breath she had been holding in a sigh. "Soul" He even _smelled _the same. Maka found herself hugging him back, though it went against all of her rules, it just felt right. When he finally pulled away (too soon in her opinion) she pouted, already missing the contact. It made her feel...whole somehow.

"Maka! What the heck happened! I heard that you got hurt on a mission and-and..." Soul stumbled over his words, rushing to get everything out. Maka placed her hand over his (which were still on her shoulders), effectively shutting him up. She tried to sit up but soon found she couldn't; apparently her wounds were worse than she had initially thought.

"It wasn't that bad. I took a few hits, but I killed it didn't I? Afterwards I blacked out and I just woke up here." He looked skeptical of her story and honestly Maka couldn't fault him there. She had left out quite a bit, but who needed all of the gory details anyway? Evidently, Soul didn't feel like fighting that battle because he sunk into the cushions of the plain blue chair next to Maka's bed, sighing warily.  
"What am I going to do with you?"

"What?" Maka inquired. Had she missed something? He looked up at her, his fiery eyes smoldering with some underlying emotion.  
"Do you know how worried I was? That you had gotten hurt and I wasn't there to protect you. If you had died..." He paused for too long before continuing. "I don't know what I would have done. It's been hell without you for just a few months, but for...forever? I don't even want to think about it." Maka looked at him, he looked empty. She really (REALLY) wanted to hug him. Kiss him. Anything to wipe away the sad look on his face. The look that she knew he'd only show to her... But that would mean going back to him. Going back to being the weak and lonely Maka.  
"I-I can't go back."

[_The ones we trusted the most. __**Pushed us far away**_]

"But I _**NEED**_ you to come back! Nothing's the same without you there! I was so used to you being _with_ me that once you weren't there anymore I realized how bleak everything was _without _you! The apartment, classes, missions, even basketball isn't fun without you around. And you never even played!" He took a deep, shuddering breath. This time his talking was lower and slower. He only did that when he was trying to get her to fathom something important. "What I'm trying to say is that I love you Maka and I don't want to have to live without you anymore."

Maka gawked at him for a moment before she realized what she was doing, then settled for looking down, embarrassed. Soul LOVED her! The cool guy of Shibusen loved her? The bookworm, Maka who had never done anything to earn that love. All she'd done was be herself. (and throw the occasional book at him) In that moment Maka realized that she loved him too. Probably for a while now. She whispered it to herself, just to try it out. "I love Soul." It had a nice ring to it.

Apparently Soul thought so too because suddenly he was in her face. She could feel his breath on her face. Hot and close. So close. "Please?" His eyes were smoldering now, the emotion even more defined than it was before now that Maka knew what it was. She stared, still stupefied by his close proximity.

**[**_And there's no one road_**]  
**  
Soul pulled back and stood rigid, hardly daring to breathe. What if she said no? Said that she really didn't want to come back to him. He truly had no idea what he'd do.

Rather than dwell on it, Soul decided not to cross that bridge until he got there. He glanced at Maka. She looked conflicted, as if she were having an internal struggle. He hoped that it was going in his favor.

He was still looking at her when Maka gave an aggravated grunt, "I DON'T know! I-I want to but what if things are the same as before? If it's just going to end up like that then I-I can't. I don't want to be the feeble girl you leave behind anymore!"

**[**_We should not be the same_**]  
**  
His lips crashed desperately into hers before he frantically pulled away. "I will NEVER leave you again. You are coming with me." He managed to get out huskily before drawing her in again. She nodded shyly, still red from their recent activities. Her heart rate monitor was going crazy, and she wished she could shut it up somehow. Though she was covered from head to toe in wires, gauze and stitches she still felt a lot better in this moment than she had in a long time. Probably since she'd walked out their apartment door. But all she knew was the fuzzy feeling she had in the pit of her stomach; it engulfed her entire being. It was like the sun had finally come out after a long storm. She felt...warm.

**[**But_ I'm just a ghost __**AND STILL**__ they echo me]  
_  
Maka sat on her bed and looked around. Her room looked exactly the same as the day she'd left only...cleaner? All she'd had to do was bring her clothes and any other trinkets she'd obtained over the past couple of months.

Even though she worried that it wasn't the right thing, moving back, it was wonderful to be back in her home. Plus, she trusted Soul. It wasn't the same without him anyway. Even though he called her nicknames and made fun of her he still had his moments when he was the kindest, coolest person in the world. As Maka settled back into her old life of Maka Albarn: friend, meister, partner and eased into her new one as: girlfriend, meister/ weapon, companion she began to thing that maybe -just maybe-everything would work out okay.

_**[**__They echo me in circles_**]**

**A/N Thanks for reading. If you liked it review please:) It's fuel to a writer's muse (:**


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